Localized administration for the treatment of localized clinical disorders has many clinical advantages over the use of conventional systemic treatment. Locally administered medication after delivery diffuses through local capillary, venous, arterial, and lymphatic action to reach the anatomic site of pathology, or, alternatively, to reach the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). In addition local administration of a biologic in the vicinity of the spine (perispinal administration) has the key advantage of improved delivery of the agent to the central nervous system (CNS). Local intranasal administration of a biologic is another method to improve delivery of the biologic to the CNS, and is discussed here as a method to treat neuropsychiatric disorders, including disorders of mood (depression, bipolar disorder) utilizing TNF antagonists or IL-1 antagonists.
All of the cytokine antagonists which are currently available have been developed for systemic administration. This is because all were developed to treat systemic illnesses, including rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, or Crohn's Disease.
The use of cytokine antagonists to treat neurological disorders is discussed in several previous patents of this inventor, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,015,557, 6,177,077, 6,419,944 B2 and other pending applications of this inventor. This invention includes further applications of these ideas.
Perispinal administration of biologics when compared to systemic administration, carries with it one or more of the following advantages:
1) greater efficacy due to the achievement of higher local concentration;
2) greater efficacy due to the ability of the administered therapeutic molecule to reach the target tissue without degradation caused by hepatic or systemic circulation;
3) more rapid onset of action;
4) longer duration of action;
5) Potentially fewer side effects, due to lower required dosage;
6) greatly improved efficacy due to improved delivery of the therapeutic molecule to the CNS.
Clinical experience utilizing perispinal administration of etanercept for treating lumbar and cervical radiculopathy and other forms of neuropathic pain caused by vertebral disc disease has demonstrated the dramatic efficacy, and the extraordinarily rapid onset of action produced by perispinal administration of etanercept for these disorders. Perispinal administration of the other cytokine antagonists of consideration here, for treating other neurological disorders or for treating neuropsychiatric disorders, as partially enumerated above, shares the above advantages.
The therapeutic molecules of consideration here have many biologic effects. Etanercept, for example, in addition to being a potent anti-inflammatory also has important anti-apoptotic effects which may be of particular importance in treating neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's Disease, where apoptosis plays a pathogenetic role.
Biologics have been developed which have been shown to offer dramatic clinical benefit for systemic illnesses in humans, even for those disorders which have not responded to large and repeated doses of corticosteroids. These biologics fall into the category of cytokine antagonists because they block, or antagonize, the biologic action of a specific cytokine which has adverse clinical effects. These cytokines include the pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-1 and TNF. For the purposes of this discussion, “antagonist”, “inhibitor”, and “blocker” are used interchangeably.
Specific inhibitors of TNF, only recently commercially available, now provide for therapeutic intervention in TNF mediated disorders. These agents have been developed to treat systemic illnesses, and therefore have been developed for systemic administration. Various biopharmaceutical companies have developed TNF antagonists to treat systemic illnesses: Immunex Corporation developed etanercept (Enbrel) to treat rheumatoid arthritis; Johnson and Johnson developed infliximab (Remicade) to treat Crohn's Disease and rheumatoid arthritis; D2E7, a human anti-TNF monoclonal antibody (Abbott) is being developed to treat rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's Disease; Celltech is developing CDP 571 to treat Crohn's Disease and CDP 870 to treat rheumatoid arthritis; and Serono is developing onercept, a recombinant TNF binding protein (r-TBP-1) for treating rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis/psoriatic arthritis.
Recent research has demonstrated that a new TNF antagonist can be manufactured from an existing molecule by subtracting a portion of the amino acid sequence from the molecule. This has the advantage of making the molecule smaller. This smaller molecule can be easier to manufacture and may have clinical advantages, such as reduced immunogenicity in the human in vivo. Therefore, the molecules of consideration here shall also include, in addition to those specified, any molecule which contains a fragment of any of the named molecules. A fragment shall be defined as an identical amino acid sequence 50% or greater in length of the original molecule and possessing TNF binding capability or interleukin-1 binding capability.